Presenting a musical “Fuck you” to the collectivist coalition that is ‘Nick, Dave and the Bad Seats’ -- a playlist of ‘politically’ relevant songs that sums up the current world we live in, the clueless band of elitist cunt-flaps we suffer under, and the mess they so incompetently created; a masterclass in fuck-tardery

This is for the red, blue, purple and yellow quagmire of sewer-ridden criminals and morally corrupt rat-bags, running this small island through the ground and straight to the scorching core of perdition’s rancid smelling anus. May they all die horribly, and a little bit worse, and burn in perpetual damnation for all eternity, and a wee bit longer.

Brainwashed -- The Kinks — “You look like a real human being / But you don’t have a mind of your own / Yeah you can walk, you can breathe You can work, you can stitch you can sew / But you’re brainwashed”

Party Political -- Full Scale — “I can’t help but think, drink, smell the stink / hopefully some pen and ink will bring us all back from the brink”

No Matter Who You Vote For The Government Always Gets In -- The Bonzo Dog Band — “Posters in suburbia, experts on TV / Don’t let them disturb-i-ya / They’re just the powers that be”

The Times They Are A-Changin’ -- Bob Dylan — “Come mothers and fathers throughout the land / Don’t criticize what you can’t understand”

Integral -- Pet Shop Boys — “Everyone has their own number in the system that we operate under / We’re moving to a situation where your lives exist as information”

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This playlist is my musical tribute to all the LBGTs out there; some of whom I’m enriched enough to call my friends. I’ve chosen these songs because of their lyrical relevance -- and also because they are uplifting pieces of music; fit for celebrating diversity.

Among them is Pet Shop Boys’ ‘To Speak is a Sin’, which harks back to gay bars of the early 80’s and the quiet desperation and hopeful optimism of picking someone up. In Erasure’s ‘Hideaway’, Andy Bell sings of enduring family rejection after coming out, while Placebo’s in-your-face ‘Nancy Boy’ explores androgynous sexuality and distorted gender roles. For some reason Depeche Mode’s ‘Never Let Me Down Again’ makes me think of dogging.

Tight leather pants, trowels of make-up, eye-liner, heavily voluminous hair, and gyrations that could drill through solid walls -- but that’s enough about the guys. For this playlist I present 24 female-fronted rock bands from the last decade.

Beauties, beasts and bags of attitude, from the angelic cacophonies of Latin stunner Cristina Scabbia and piercing blue-eyed beauty Amy Lee, to the certifiable, milk curdling, screeches of Juliette Lewis and Courtney Love.

Happy head-banging!

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There was something special to me about the synth-pop sounds of the early-to-mid 80’s – before analogue synthesizers got too clever. I was knee high to a newt when I first heard Kraftwerk’s ‘The Model’ – my earliest memory of music. It sounded like something from another time; cold and clinical, yet catchy and colourful – like a Borg dancing a rainbow tutu.

Early 80’s synthpop was largely an androgynous male dominated genre -- Eurythmics and Yazoo being rarer female-fronted exceptions. Now, I’d hate to use the idiot’s idiom, ‘retro-mania’, but there’s been a bracing revival of early 80’s synth-pop recently, and the bulk of what I like exists outside of the mainstream (better out than in, I say). Even more refreshing for me is that a lot of them are female-fronted.

So, without further adieu (be-do-be-do) and padding-out of words, I give you my personal pick of synth-pop angels from this century who are crafting melodious homages to the pioneers of the last. Among them are Alison Goldfrapp, , I Blame Coco (Stewart ‘The ‘Police’ drummer’ Copeland’s daughter), Robyn, Dragonette, and the seductive Sarah Nixie (Black Box Recorder) -- who could read the local Chinese takeaway menu and still melt me. It may not surprise you to know that I also managed to sneak Tennant & Lowe into this playlist, with a bouncy remix of Lady Gaga’s ‘Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I can Say).

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Playlist to the Stars is a 15 track celebration of my life-long affair with music, space exploration and science fiction. It is a musical journey compiling the quirky melodies of Sparks and the Rezillos, the classical swells of Holst and Strauss, and the genre-defining soundscapes of Vangelis and Jeff Wayne -- with a bit of Queen and Muse pomp for good measure. The musical journey concludes with two tributes: Jean--Michel Jarre‘s haunting tribute to the crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger, ‘Last Rendez Vous’ and Alpha Wave Movement’s dreamy ‘Requiem for C.S. (Carl Sagan)’.

So, buckle up and set the controls for an eclectic odyssey, featuring interstellar visitors that live among us, titans that plot to destroy us, and mortals that fell to earth in the name of science and exploration.

If, like me, you like to express your love musically, but would rather poke your tongue in a light fitting than endure four minutes and nineteen seconds of Chris De Burgh, then ‘Side A’ is your sunny, uplifting alternative to the heart-wrenching power-ballad. If your bleeding, melancholic heart is prone to sinking deep into the depths of despair like a ship hitting an Ice Burgh, then ‘Side B’ is for you:

Rock is apparently dead according to a recent declaration by the so-called “professor of pop”, Paul Gambaccini, because it no longer features in the mainstream, watered-down Top 40 music chart. According to a recent article in the Guardian: “The problem lay, in part, with short-sighted record labels investing less in the talent of the future and more in instantly profitable acts such as former X Factor stars.” Fair point, Gamby-boy, but what about album sales? Nobody talks about the next Muse, or Radiohead single, but everybody buys their albums.

Iron Maiden’s ‘The Final Frontier’ album reached #1 in over 30 countries last year. Metallica and AC/DC currently have the highest grossing album sales and Bon Jovi is the highest grossing live act of 2010. Good music is not about quick-buck singles, it is about well crafted albums and stellar live performances. Anyway, what connoisseur of music would deem the Top 40 charts to be an accurate representation of people’s musical tastes? Let me put it another way: Mr Blobby has had a UK #1 single, Bob Dylan hasn’t. ‘Nuff said.

It may be that rock no longer has a place in the mainstream, but it is not a reason to declare it ‘dead’. If anything that eludes the zeitgeist is considered dead then Jazz is dead, classical music is dead; ambient, punk, indie, folk and country are also dead – I died in 1996! During my teens I made a point of sidestepping chart music that everyone was listening to (even if it meant not listening to the Stereophonics); I was a John Peel listener, and he only played what wasn’t getting played. Rock albums have always been what chart music isn’t: They are arcane, bold, energetic and political; they dare to be different. Most importantly, they are inaccessible to those who don’t possess the desire to unlock them.

Here are a dozen guitar-driven tracks taken from albums released in 2010. Dead, my fracking arse!